Mining generally requires a large capital investment in equipment and machinery. To best utilize the manpower and equipment in mining operations requires mine operators to be extremely efficient.
In the area of mining generally there are various types of mining. Below surface mining requires the construction of deep shafts and underground chambers to position equipment near the minerals being mined. Coal for example lies in seams running for miles, each seam can be many feet thick and span large areas. Precious metals like gold and silver are said to run in veins and are typically harder to mine resulting in much higher costs as large amounts of ore must be processed to recover small amounts of the precious metals.
With coal, the raw material is abundant and comparatively easier to mine resulting in lower value. Coal's primary end use is as an energy producing combustion material and therefore coal competes with natural gas, solar, wind, nuclear energy and hydroelectrical power systems.
Historically, coal is one of the cheapest fuel for producing electricity. Environmental concerns have raised speculation that this abundant source of energy may eventually have to be regulated to reduce the amount of coal mined in order reduce environmental impact. This is particularly true as power generating electric companies using coal convert to natural gas. To offset this reduction, the coal producing industry needs to become more efficient in their operations and in their effort to provide a reliable product that not only can compete on a cost basis, but also on a quality of product being sold.
Among those coal product related issues are reducing the level of heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, mercury and lowering the sulfur content while providing a reliable cleaner burning coal.
The present invention assists in these regards by providing a state of the art mining system that provides real time product data along every step of the mining operation. The system and processes described as follows provides a unique way to track the product, whether the product is minerals, aggregates or ores including coal, from the time it its extracted from the ground to the loading on rail cars and shipment to its final destination.